Tacchi Alti

2 hours ago, jeremy1986 said:

Very cute, @Tacchi Alti. The heel is misleading - they look much lower than they really are.

Hope you get noticed and complimented! 

The height of the visible heel is about 4 inches, and the extra height of the insole takes it to almost 4.5 inches. I'm wearing them now. They're a bit tight across the top but they should stretch a bit with wearing. They have quite a pointed toe, which makes them rather feminine from the front, but the rest could be like a cowboy boot for most people who would even notice them.

But why never any mention of my heels, in over three years of wearing regularly, but three comments on the glitter in two hours? I've just got these - £10 in a charity shop. Real leather, with heels just over 4 inches measured vertically. I'm looking forward to seeing how many people notice. They make a bit of a noise but nothing exceptional.

Now something really strange... I went to a company conference on Saturday, wearing my usual 4.5 inch wedge boots, as per the photo although those are old ones, the same style, and cracked across the toe, as you can see. No one has ever commented on my heels, and I wear them most days. It was the same on Saturday, and there were over 4000 people there. I know they were noticed by several people, and some know I wear them anyway.

The strange bit: I had a bit of glitter applied to my face, as did quite a few people there. It was a bit of fun, and I thought, 'Why not.' I kept it on for the train journey home, and three people - total strangers - remarked on the glitter! WHY???????? I'm positive at least one of those saw my boots.

I have several pairs of New Look shoes but wouldn't reckon on spending £50 at one go. A nice offer to people, anyway, and I hope someone takes it up.

You wear the sandals in the gym too?

That's a great start, and the main thing is to increase your confidence, as if people here are honest we all felt terrified the first time we venture out in anything that other people might regard as not normal!

I'm moving more and more towards heels for public wear, for two reasons: One, heels are a miracle cure for backache, so I want something I can wear all day publicly without drawing too much attention to myself; two, my wife accepts heels like that, so I don't want to spoil the situation which I'm sure a lot of male heel wearers would envy.

I've worn stilettos in public and would probably do so more and more if I wanted to push boundaries, but the way I'm moving at present is towards getting friends etc to accept me in heels, so I don't want to freak them out by wearing something even most women wouldn't dream of wearing. This weekend we had visitors who had never seen me in heels beyond the two-inch cuban heels I often wear with a business suit, so I wore my boots with concealed 4 inch heels. I'm sure they noticed my increased height but my boots were not 'in your face'  high heels. We went out for the day on Saturday, and did a lot of walking and standing around, which would have killed my back if I'd been in flat shoes. I could happily have told them that if they'd asked, and I think they'd have accepted the style as a reasonable one to wear for such purposes. My main thing was not causing embarrassment either to them or to my wife, while still wearing something to relieve potential back pain. Also, of course, there was still the high-heel feel for walking and standing even if not as pleasurable as in more wobbly shoes.

Regarding the question of boots/shoes/sandals, I like them all, but it's so much easier getting boots that could reasonably be classed as 'normal' men's wear. I have one pair of shoes I've worn with friends around (Oxfords with block heels just under four inches), and one pair of sandals I've worn in the presence of a lot of people who know me but who are not close friends, and also when I've been with my mother or my mother-in-law. Boots are fine this time of year, although even then wearing them indoors is not all that pleasant at times because my feet get hot, and other people might wonder why on earth I'm in boots indoors! I'm sure our visitors this weekend thought that. Ideally I'd have some light wedge shoes I could wear but not court shoes, which would be immediately 'judged' as feminine. Chunky high heeled clogs/mules with closed toes might also be OK for that purpose indoors.

There are two sides: one, I couldn't care less what other people thought; two, I don't want to cause embarrassment to other people who are close, either through friendship or through family. The difficult thing is steering some sort of path through both sides.

Enjoy your heels! Best to be confident in them before venturing outside, anyway.

As I said, they are a bit of a snug fit, so probably slightly small. However, they've stretched a bit with wear and are fine on my size 8 feet. I've walked many miles in them and they are very comfortable.

Hello Aleks, and welcome. We look forward to hearing more about you. Do you wear heels in public or just at home?

2 hours ago, Shyheels said:

What about five o'clock shadow and heels?  

Is that what you get with hairy legs teamed with shorts and heels? Or is that five year shadow?

16 hours ago, Cali said:

I have an colleague/friend from Iraq that I have known and worked with for 30 years. He can't get over I wear women's shoes. He knows about my injury and still thinks I should get "medical heels". Then I ask him how much does he thinks  it would cost for a pair of "custom made medical heels" and what would tell look like? And what would the sandals look like? And you can just have one pair. For the $320+ I can get many beautiful heels anytime I want. "Medical high heels" are a joke.

Indeed. They must be extraordinarily ugly, and I'm sure they are used for rather more complicated cases than what will simply be 'corrected' with ordinary high heels. The elevator shoes I had the misfortune to buy recently looked horrific, and the word 'orthopaedic' came to both my mind and my wife's. I can never imagine wearing them, quite apart from the fact I was told a pack of lies by the seller about the insert. Despite my detailed questions - and reasons for asking them - about the actual lift rather than the increase in height, and the assurance I had that the soles were not thick, the shoes came with inner soles at least an inch thick, which defeated the object, and of course to accommodate the insole the actual shoe was monstrous, a fact carefully concealed in pictures. My wife likened them to the shoes an elderly friend used to wear because of severe oedema! I bought them from a seller in California, Tall Men Shoes , who flatly refused to pay return carriage, having already charged me an arm and a leg for carriage to the UK. They said they'd refund me the purchase price if I returned them, but I told them they'd already fobbed me off with so many lies I didn't trust them to refund me.

The history of this purchase? My wife has said that I should be prepared to wear heels in front of everyone we know, so I had to have a pair of shoes I'd be happy to wear with a business suit or just casually at home amongst church members. We agreed I'd get these, although we both knew they'd be expensive, so she was just as disappointed as me. I think, though, that it highlighted for her the problems of getting anything 'smart' that's not obviously got a high heel. I have some Oxfords with block heels just under four inches, but she doesn't like them because they look like granny shoes. However, I've worn them with some success (ie no comments although they were obviously studied!) with the heels showing plainly, amongst a few friends from church, so perhaps they are regarded as fairly masculine.

Jeremy - There's a lot of truth in what you say, and I also think there is a line between what people are happy to practise and agree to inside closed doors and what they do publicly. It's this attitude even to what is in private that annoys me, as it's not a question of potential public embarrassment to her (which I can understand and sympathise with) but absolute refusal to indulge her spouse in something that makes him happy simply because she perceives it as perverted, unmanly, etc. What about the 'to honour and obey' stuff?!!

On 21/11/2017 at 8:15 AM, Puffer said:

I can't really see the point of those boots.   They took you an age to put on, with obvious difficulty, and you can barely even stand in them without support.   Do you really expect to be able to walk in them, even with practice?

Who needs a 'point'? He likes them, and is prepared to practise in them. I know he also has some other awesome heels that are almost impossible to walk in. I have a strong fetish side to me which makes me want to be locked in extreme heels, and I have in fact gone for a half-mile walk in locked-on 5.5 inch stilettos (not extreme for me - I can walk in them quite well), leaving the keys in the car. I also have a pair of ballet boots, and I love the helpless feeling while wearing them. However, those are for indoors, obviously, and I'm just glad to be in 4-4.5 inch heels in public all the time, wearing them because I choose to wear them.

Absolutely true what's been said about wearing heels in public being very different from wearing them just at home. I started off wearing cowboy boots with heels around 2.5 inches and expected everyone within 100 yards to fall about laughing. No reaction. I then put inserts in, which brought the heel up to about 4 inches. This made them feel nicer but unfortunately they put the whole boot off balance and it was difficult to walk in them without slapping the sole down. I then wore boots with block heels around 3.75 inches, and still got no reaction, so since then I've had my daily boots (4.5 inch wedge) and concealed heels (about 4 inches including a small insert). I've also worn very thin four inch wedges but they're a bit noisy so not suitable if I don't want to draw attention to myself. More people notice them, but no one has ever commented. I've also worn stiletto boots a couple of times away from home to see what reaction I got in a busy shopping centre. None!

Shoes are a bit more difficult, as there are any amount of beautiful low-cut stilettos etc, which I'd love to wear, but I want something to go with the otherwise masculine look. I have some Oxfords with block heels just under four inches, and I've worn those quite a bit, although my wife doesn't like them as they look like the shoes old ladies used to wear, in her opinion! I've tried to get out of her what shoe styles she DOES like, but got no firm answer.

I find sandals most difficult to choose and wear. Nearly all wedge sandals also have a platform, or thin straps, or both, so to get something which will blend in with my male attire is time consuming. I finally found a pair of Fly sandals with four inch wide wedge heels and (unfortunately) a one inch platform, and I wore those all the time in the summer. I have several pairs of block heel sandals about 4-4.5 inches which I'd like to try but the main thing is I'm not confident enough about their comfort to go far in them. With all of them the straps seem to dig in or rub, and I think my wife would think them a bit too feminine for her liking.

It's mainly a matter of confidence and holding your head high, walking about as though wearing heels were the most natural thing in the world. People latch on to self-confidence, just as they do to furtiveness. I now try heels on in the shop rather than sneak them off the shelf, fumble with cash payment and creep out. I put them down on the counter and make small talk with the cashier. The staff know they are for me, but they'd also know it if I were furtive. Anyway, I'm already wearing heels, so...

You'll be much more aware of different surfaces, slopes, uneven ground, etc., and you need to be careful. I'm sure my wife occasionally takes me over such ground purposely, and I've never been sure whether she does it because she knows I like it or because she's trying to make me overbalance! The biggest challenge was a hump-back bridge over a canal.

It's taken time to get to this level of confidence, so don't rush it. Just keep pushing the barriers slowly. I've never been challenged as to why I'm wearing them, but I have two kinds of answer ready depending on the kind of remark. If they're obviously just trying to embarrass me, and I think I can get away with it, I'd just say they came attached to the shoes. My second answer, which is also completely true, is that they stop backache, so I'm after the sympathy vote there! I've recently been sparring with a troglodyte on another site who calls me a perv. I've finally, today, after rather an amusing exchange, told him about my backache, so I'll see what response I get, if any. Interestingly, no one else has supported him, and this is just a mainstream social media site. Ah! a response, just before sending this message! 'Ever thought of getting medical heels?' I've asked him what they are.

The first part was similar for me, but fortunately I raised the subject with my wife after a couple of years of marriage. She asked what I now know to be the inevitable question: 'Are you gay?' There were a few tears but she came to terms with it and even bought me a pair of shoes a few months later. Her acceptance has varied over the years, but she will be seen out with me in some heels - block heels or wedges - so long as they are not too feminine in look.

I think the main problem with most women is that they feel their femininity is being challenged, and it's a brand new experience. Heels are women's wear - right? So how dare a man encroach on that territory? The fact that women have been stealing from men's wardrobes for decades is irrelevant. That's their privilege but we aren't allowed to reciprocate. Does your wife wear jeans and sneakers? Does she borrow shirts or jumpers? They're men's clothes, so she's being hypocritical if she wears them. Do you banish her to the spare room for wearing them?

Double standards, unfortunately, but I think the tide is turning, even if very slowly.

The only people who would have noticed the heels on those boots would have been heel freaks! I wear heels nearly all the time, and most don't notice, particularly my 4.5 inch wedges. I have some cowboy boots with block heels a bit higher than yours but more people notice because they are noisy on some surfaces - like the wood block floor in a place I go to for business networking!

Welcome back. You look wonderful!

6 hours ago, balletboot said:

Yes they should be. i will probly just have to order some since im struggling to find anything around here over 4 inches without a platform.

It can be difficult to get over 4 inches, as I've found, and also more than a four inch 'lift' with platforms. I got a couple of pairs of platforms in local shops with about a 4.5 inch lift but that seems the maximum.

10 hours ago, jeremy1986 said:

oooh!!

Now these are high heels for men

 

To be worn with a 90-pound backpack and black face paint.

Welcome. You've found the right place, and we'd love to hear about your experiences. You're very fortunate as a female to be able to wear heels at a young age with no one causing you embarrassment. Most of us males took ages before venturing out in heels.

13 hours ago, balletboot said:

@Jeremy1986 im looking for a basic black leather pump and or black leather boot probly ankle to calf height. Both preferably in the 4.25 to 5 inch heel range. The booties i have now are a 4 inch heel and i would like something a little taller without a platform. Also im not really a fan of the chunky heel i tend to like the stiletto look much much more.

Before yesterday i havnt really started looking

Those should be quite easy to find.

What did the other shoppers think when you wore them to the supermarket?

11 hours ago, RonC said:

Thanks jeremy1986.  And to those discussing the narrower heel, the more I thought about my walk yesterday, the more I agree.  Much less "clompy" for the lack of a better word.  Personally, I loved it when an uneven surface would cause a bit of wobble!

Yes, the wobble is wonderful and controllable in thin heels with no platform. With a high platform and/or thick heels you have to be much more careful.

4 hours ago, HappyinHeels said:

tina,

The bottoms of those shoes look similar to some styles I've seen on lapiazza-highheels.com which, despite he Italian-looking name, is headquartered near Dusseldorf, Germany. They are known for their platform sandals designs. Don't have any but I love that height and sassy style. I imagine this is a party shoe for you??  HappyinHeels

Are La Piazza still in business? They did some wonderful shoes. I see the link works but the site is a bit random.